Cheat Sheet

Visual Basic.NET All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies

Visual Basic.NET helps even those with no programming experience write sophisticated programs for Windows with ease. Becoming familiar with the Visual Basic.NET naming conventions and data types sets you on the road to programming whatever you like, and discovering the shortcut keys the VB.NET editor gets you to your destination even faster.

Standardized Naming Conventions for Visual Basic .NET

When you’re programming, names are important. If you’re programming with Visual Basic .NET, the following table can be a major help in getting the names right. It gives the common prefix to use when naming objects so you can quickly tell your check boxes from your combo boxes and your radio buttons from your record sets.

Prefix

Corresponding Object

Example

Prefix

Corresponding Object

Example

Acd

ActiveDoc

AcdMainPage

Hpl

HyperLink

HplURL

Chk

CheckBox

ChkBoldface

Lbl

Label

LblContents

Cbo

ComboBox

CboDropper

Lst

ListBox

LstNames

Cm

ADO command (database)

CmMyCommand

Pag

Page

PagTurn

Cmd

CommandButton

CmdExit

Pgf

PageFrame

PgfRule

Cmg

CommandGroup

CmgSelectOne

Prj

ProjectHook

PrjSuzerine

Cn

Connection (database)

CnMyConnex

Rb

RadioButton

RbBlueBackground

Con

Container

CntFramed

Rs

Recordset (database)

RsTotalSales

Ctr

Control

CtlSeeThis

Sep

Separator

SepZone

Fld

Field (database)

FldTitles

Spn

Spinner

SpnWatch

Frm

Form

FrmColors

Txt

TextBox

TxtAddress

Frs

FormSet

FrsTypeIn

Tmr

Timer

TmrAnimation

Grd

Grid

GrdGoods

Tbr

ToolBar

TbrDropThis

Grc

Column (in grid)

GrcQuantity

Tbl

Table (database)

TblTitles

Grh

Header (in grid)

GrhYearsResults

Shortcut Keys for the Visual Basic .NET Editor

Visual Basic .NET not only helps you program like a pro even if you have no programming experience at all, it offers many handy tools to help. One of those tools is a whole range of shortcut keys you can use to cut, copy, and generally direct a program to do what you want it to. The command names, functions, and the shortcut keys are in the following table.

Command Name

Shortcut Keys

Behavior

Edit.Copy

Ctrl + C
Ctrl + Insert

Copies the currently selected item to the Clipboard.

Edit.Cut

Ctrl + X
Shift + Delete

Removes the currently selected item, but saves a copy in the
Clipboard in case you want to paste it somewhere.

Displays the selected file in the Design. (Simply
double-clicking the filename in Solution Explorer is easier.)

View.WebNavigateBack

Alt + left-arrow

Displays the previous page in the viewing history.

View.WebNavigateForward

Alt + right-arrow

Displays the next page in the viewing history.

Visual Basic .NET Data Types

Visual Basic .NET (VB .NET) lets you get right to the basics without having to wade through translators. The following table shows you the data types VB .NET uses, as well as their CLR structure, storage size, and value ranges. Use the info for good, not evil!

Visual Basic Type

Common Language Runtime Type Structure

Storage Size

Value Range

Boolean

System.Boolean

2 bytes

True or False

Byte

System.Byte

1 byte

0 to 255 (unsigned)

Char

System.Char

2 bytes

0 to 65535 (unsigned)

Date

System.DateTime

8 bytes

January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999

Decimal

System.Decimal

16 bytes

+/-79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 with no decimal
point; +/-7.9228162514264337593543950335 with 28 places to the
right of the decimal; smallest non-zero number is
+/-0.0000000000000000000000000001

Double (double- precision floating-point)

System.Double

8 bytes

-1.79769313486231E+308 to 4.94065645841247E-324 for negative
values; 4.94065645841247E-324 to 1.79769313486231E+308 for positive
values

Integer

System.Int32

4 bytes

-2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647

Long (long integer)

System.Int64

8 bytes

-9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807

Object

System.Object (class)

4 bytes

Any type can be stored in a variable of type Object

Short

System.Int16

2 bytes

-32,768 to 32,767

Single (single-precision floating-point)

System.Single

4 bytes

-3.402823E+38 to -1.401298E-45 for negative values;
1.401298E-45 to 3.402823E+38 for positive values

String (variable-length)

System.String (class)

Depends on implementing platform

0 to approximately 2 billion Unicode characters

User-Defined Type (structure)

(inherits from System.ValueType)

Sum of the sizes of its members

Each member of the structure has a range determined by its data
type and independent of the ranges of the other members